School Superintendent Rob Roberts was in Carson City last week, where he definitely knows his way around the capitol building, meeting regularly with legislators and Gov. Jim Gibbons.
Two weeks ago, Roberts was in Las Vegas to attend an invitation-only conference, attended by school superintendents along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Congresswoman Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Nevada Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Steven Horsford along with other dignitaries.
Roberts was the only superintendent asked to address Duncan. “Now, let me tell you about Nye County,” Roberts began.
He made the most of the opportunity, telling the secretary of the challenges of educating students in rural communities and the problems encountered with deep budget cuts.
He challenged the legislators to spend one day with him walking the schools. He said a prior speaker spoke in platitudes about a Las Vegas magnet school, Valley High School, where there are highly qualified teachers in every subject, teaching honors classes.
At the risk of sounding like a lunatic. Has anyone even considered the amount of $ spent on SPORTS. Venues, athletes, memorabilia? If the athlete’s love the game then they play for what a teacher makes. Give the teacher, or the school system the multimillion dollar contract for graduating 95% of a particular student body. Reward those who excel in teaching the sciences and mathematics. Let the quarterback play for 50K a year, they’ll still make ridiculous $$ off of endorsements. With the situation as CRITICAL as it is, drastic reform, not just in health care but in education and the distribution of wealth in this nation. Isn’t there a way?
Thank You for listening to the rantings of a mad man